


Carry On My Wayward Son

by ChiliTheKid



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Altean Lance (Voltron), BAMF Lance (Voltron), Child Death, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Established Keith/Lance (Voltron), Galra Lance (Voltron), Haggar is Her Own Warning, Human Experimentation, Hurt Lance (Voltron), Hybrid Lance (Voltron), Irish Lance (Voltron), Messing with People's DNA is not Kosher Haggar!, Multi, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Tags Contain Spoilers, There Will Be An Inordinate Amount Of Irish/Spanish and Sass Coming from Lance's Mouth, Time Travel, author should have gone to bed hours ago
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-03-27 13:38:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19014010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChiliTheKid/pseuds/ChiliTheKid
Summary: After sacrificing himself for his boyfriend, then being blown up, experiencing time travel, getting experimented on, being de-aged, fighting for the right to keep breathing and finally offing the miserable sonovabitch that made him murder people for entertainment, Lance McClain would very much like to sleep for a year, thank you kindly. Unfortunately, just when he thought he was home free, he wakes up in the middle of a jungle with his only his bayard and a pretty blue knife he had found laying around collecting dust.Dear Fate, quit being such abitch. Sincerely, Lance





	1. Chapter One - Hold the Light

**Author's Note:**

> First, I would like to thank my Discord buddies, ya'll know who you are, for giving me ideas and being my sounding board.  
> Next, I would like to warn you that I wrote this sleep deprived and I'll clean it up later if it needs it. *Edit - And so it has been.*  
> Last, I would like to say that I own absolutely none of this. None.  
> Comments and Criticisms Welcome. Flames are useless in Florida, as such they will be discarded.  
> Song for this chapter is _Hold the Light_ by Dierks Bentley.  
> Enjoy.

Episode 7.3 (or it would be if it had, you know, _Klance_ ) -

 

“Go, go, go, move it Babe!” Lance pushed Keith out of the way of an incoming laser blast and shot back, nailing the guard in between the eyes, spitting out curses in Irish and Spanish that would have _Mamó (granny)_  running for a bar of soap and Mama scrambling for her sandal. “C’mon. We still need to buy the others more time.” He grunted when another sentry shot at him, the laser bounding off his shield. Lance let loose a shriek when, in his distracted state, a guard snuck up behind him and almost shot him point blank if Keith hadn’t bashed his shield against their chest.

“Pay attention!” The Black Paladin snapped at him and swung around to block an incoming laser, refusing to feel guilty at yelling when his mate was in danger of dying.

“Okay, okay, Jeez. Sorry.  _Mi vida, mi amor, mi corazón (my life, my love, my heart)_.” Keith rolled his eyes as Lance came up with increasingly sappy nicknames trying to get his mate to smile. It worked, much to the black paladin's chagrin as he felt his lips twitch upwards. The Cuban laughed and abandoned precision firing in exchange for a spray of purple bolts, wincing as his stolen gun heated to an uncomfortable degree. His shots took down the first wave, but he could hear more coming. “Keith,  _mo ghrá (my love)_ , there’s reinforcements.” A flash of red caught his eyes and he quickly scooped up the object. He wasn’t going to waste his breath wondering why his bayard wasn’t with the others, just throwing away the now unneeded blaster that was two shots away from becoming useless.

Keith nodded and they both turned, bolting down the next hallway. Five minutes later, after shooting and/or stabbing any guards that they came across, they stopped at a three-way and panted as they watched the hallways filled up with more guards that the two paladins alone could deal with, and they backed into each other. The black paladin cursed under his breath, “I’m out of ideas. You got any, sharpshooter?” Before Lance could answer, a slick voice called out from the darkness of the corridor they just came from.

“Now, now. Where do you think you’re going? It is such bad manners to leave without saying goodbye to your hosts, is it not?”

Keith’s lips thinned. “Shit.” The two paladins watched as a robed figure slunk menacingly out of the shadows, bone white mask gleaming in the purple light. “We really need a plan.” He heard the Red Paladin exhale shakily as they stared at the druid stalking towards them, having waved away the soldiers.

“You think you can find your way to where the Lions are,  _cariño (love)_?” Lance asked under his breath.

“Yeah?” Keith responded hesitantly. “Why?”

“Good. Go while I distract the druid and keep running. Don’t look back. And take care of everyone for me?” Was his mate really saying what Keith thought he was saying?

“What? No. That’s a terrible – No.” The half-Galran angrily stumbled over his words.

“There is no way for both of us to get out of here and I would rather it was you that lives. Besides,” Lance paused and smiled brightly, confusing Keith enough that the red paladin started pulling him towards the nearest exit. “As soon as Shiro gets a new arm, he’ll be a better Red Paladin than I ever was.” Before Keith could regain his composure and protest, the Cuban yanked him close and kissed him, pouring all he could into the fierce press of lips.  _“Tá mo chroí istigh ionat, mo shíorghrá. (My heart is in you, my eternal love.)”_   Lance breathed out as he pushed his mate away and out the open door, closing it, melting the locking mechanism with a well-aimed plasma bolt. He stared at his mate’s distraught face through the glass with a sad smile, ignoring the tears pricking at his own eyes, before turning and letting out a yell, raising his bayard in sword form and swinging it at the Druid.

“ _LANCE!_ ” The Black Paladin screamed out as he pounded at the thick metal separating them, tears running down his face.

“GO!”  Keith whined, shooting one last look towards the Red Paladin and ran. He kept running, ignoring the high-pitched noises coming from his throat, until he reached the hanger that housed the Lions.

“Keith!” Pidge waved from beside the Green Lion and tossed him his helmet and bayard. She blinked in surprise when Keith fumbled the catch but elected to ignore it. “There you are, we found everything but the red bayard and we should go, this place is getting way too overcrowded for us.”

“Hold up, where’s Lance?” Hunk looked behind Keith, waiting for the afore mentioned paladin to show up. The Korean roughly pushed passed the Yellow paladin and started walking to his lion, wiping at his face as he did. “Keith, buddy?” His footsteps faltered, but he kept going until he was in front of the Black Lion.

Keith looked up into his Lion’s eyes before turning his head to look at Red’s. “He’s not coming.” He muttered, not taking his gaze off his mate’s lion.

“What?” Hunk gasped.

“He’s not coming!” Keith yelled as he banged a fist against Black. “He’s not coming.” He repeated more quietly. “That fucking  _idiot_ ,” his voice broke and he swallowed harshly against the fresh wave of tears. “He told me to run while he distracted the Druid that showed up out of  _fucking_  nowhere. Said,” Keith hiccupped out a disbelieving laugh. “Said that it would be easier to  _replace him with Shiro_  than finding a new Black Paladin.” He looked back at the others, watching as various expressions clouded their faces.

Hunk shook his head, “Nope, not happening. We have to go back for him, besides who’s going to pilot the Red Lion if not Lance.” The purple overhead lights flashed red, and before anybody could move, the gravity gave out and they floated in surprise for a second, having no idea what was going on. The Lions activated and swallowed their corresponding Paladin and passengers, with Red having grabbed Krolia and Shiro, tearing through the hanger doors, leaving just as the battlecruiser was engulfed in fiery explosions.

“There’s no way Lance could have survived that, could he.” Pidge whispered through the comms as they watch the wreckage float about.

“No.” Coran murmured sadly from Yellow and the Altean laid his hand on Hunk’s shoulder when the Paladin started crying.

“Oh, Lance.” Allura stared into space, crying, as Blue purred sadly in her mind and while Romelle didn’t know Lance that well, she was saddened by the loss of life all the same. Krolia looked out at the flaming wreckage before saluting, silently thanking the brave boy for saving her son, and grieving, for that son had lost a mate. Shiro just sat in the pilot’s chair and placed his head in his hands, devastated that they had lost such a bright and kindhearted child.

“Damn it.” Keith cursed under his breath as he lost the fight against more tears. “DAMN IT!” He punched the wall and slid down to his knees; arms wrapped around himself in a mock hug, his wolf lending his warmth to his packmate. His keening wails brought shivers to the other paladins’ spines as that echoed through their comms even after their leader cut them off.

* * *

 

  * (Warning mild gore)



_“Where the Hell am I?” Keith found himself in a semi-darkened misty space, which was concerning seeing how the last thing he remembered was being safe and sound in the Black Lion. He glanced in all directions, before shrugging and started walking forward. He spent what felt like hours wandering in the same direction without the scenery changing and he finally gave up and flopped on the floor in a huff. “I guess I’m stuck here.” He mumbled as he looked up into the non-existent sky above._

_“Keith.” Hearing his name being whispered by a sweet familiar voice, he jumped up and whipped around, trying to find the body that it was connected to. He saw a vague shape through the fog out of the corner of his eye and ran towards it._

_“Lance?!” He tried to catch him but ended up grabbing nothing but smoke._

_“Keith.” The voice whispered again, coming from behind him, and Keith twisted around to see a blurred outline moving away from him. He leapt at it and crashed to the ground, spitting out a curse as he landed._

_“Keith, why?” This time, the voice was right in front of him. Keith looked up and saw Lance as he last saw him reaching out to him. “Keith, why did you leave me?” The image of his mate started to distort and Keith nearly screamed in horror as Lance’s body beginning to char right before his eyes, starting with his armor. It cracked and shattered, leaving Lance in the undersuit, until that too started to burn, exposing blistered skin that soon literally melted into blackened bone.  “Why did you leave me behind?!” He whispered no longer, voice croaking and hoarse, like he had screamed loudly for long periods of time with no relief._

_“I-I-I didn’t!” Keith stuttered and scrambled to his feet. “You told me to run and melted the door so I had to-!”_

_“You left me to die!” Lance lurched forward and Keith stumbled back, bringing up a hand to cover his mouth. What were once laughing ocean blue eyes were now boiling pits of bloody tissue spilling out of empty sockets and when Lance opened his mouth, all Keith could see was a tongue getting bigger and bigger until it became gory mess leaking down the sides of his mouth. Even without it, the Cuban spoke clearly, “I hate you! I wish I’d never met you, Keith Kogane!” He shrieked. “I fucking hate you!”_

Keith gasped awake, hands held out to hold back the horrific figure, those last words still ringing in his ears. He laid there panting, before clawing at the heavy blanket that had twisted around his body during his tossing and turning with increasing desperation. Finally getting untangled, he sat up and just stared at the wall, mind going over his nightmare. He jumped when he felt cot move, but it was just Kosmo.

“Hey bud, sorry for waking you.” The space wolf whined and Keith sighed as he gave him a scratch behind the ears. Kosmo rested his head on the black paladin’s knee as he went back to staring at the wall. A hint of orange caught his eye and he turned to find Lance’s phone sitting innocently on the box serving as a bedside table. He reached a shaky hand down to pick it up, remembering when his mate left it here

_Lance chuckled sheepishly as the black paladin looked at him questioningly as he put his phone down by the makeshift side table. ‘Think of it as a good luck charm, hermoso. Or a piece of me to have with you while I’m stuck in Red.’ He jumped and turned in the Red Lion’s direction. ‘Not that that is necessarily a bad thing, mo dearg.’ Lance turned back to Keith with a smile, ‘Anyway, you can listen to the music I have saved if you get bored! I already downloaded them into Red’s memory database so I don’t need it back.’_ Caught up in memories, he didn’t notice that Kosmo had teleported away and brought Shiro back with him. He continued to not notice, until Shiro spoke and spooked him out of his reminiscence.

“Keith, are you alright?” The younger male stared at his surrogate older brother before running into his arm and sobbing. “There there, buddy. It’ll be- well, actually it won’t be alright. Not for a while, but it will get there. Even if it constantly feels like your heart is wrapped in thorns for years after.” Shiro guided them to the cot and they stayed there until Keith’s tears had run dry.

“Do you-?” Keith started and stopped, struggling to get his thoughts in order. “Do you think Lance hated me? You know, in the end?”

“What makes you think that?” Shiro looked down with a raised brow.

“I had a nightmare where Lance blamed me and he said he hated me and he was all burned and swollen from space, likes his eyeballs and tongue were liquified and oh my god Shiro.” He looked up into the ex-paladin’s eyes and his breathing sped up. “What if he was still alive when the explosion destroyed the ship, we could have helped him or something or-!” Before Keith could descend any farther into his panic attack, Shiro grabbed one of his little brother’s hands and placed it on his chest.

“Alright Keith, breath with me, in one, two, three, four, hold, and out one, two, three, four.” They had to repeat the ritual a couple of times but Keith finally calmed down. Shiro let go of his hand and instead fit his knuckle underneath Keith’s chin to make him look up. “First of all, I don’t think Lance felt anything and secondly, I don’t- no I _know_ \- that Lance didn’t hate you. He loved you very much and I think that it would hurt him to see you in this kind of pain.” Shiro snorts as he remembered a past conversation. “In fact, Lance would be upset with all of us for sitting around crying and doing nothing while there are still people to be saved.”

“He would have been insufferable.” Keith agreed with a small smile playing on his lips. Hopefully, the morning would bring better news.

* * *

The next morning, as they were floating through space, a strange warbling screech drew the team’s attention from the sorrowful silence that blanketed the lions. “What’s that noise?” Hunk sat up from where he was hunched over the console.

Pidge sniffed, removing their glasses to wipe at their eyes and replaced them, “It sounds like some interference. I’ll try to tune it out.”

“No wait,” Krolia blinked and straightened up. “Pidge, could you amplify that signal?”

“Maybe. Give me a few ticks.” The Green Paladin swiped across a few screens, sharing the soundwave on the other Lion’s displays and Krolia closed her eyes, focusing on the noise. “Judging from the intermittent sound structure, it’s just deep space interference. Most likely a radiation pulse from a nearby star.”

“No, that’s just what it’s supposed to sound like.” Pidge’s eyes widened. “Listen to the sounds in-between the pulses. There’s a unique pattern.” Everyone closed their eyes to concentrate on the warbling.

“She’s right” Allura’s eyes popped open when she started to hear a repeated beep in-between the screeches.

“Before the Blades were unified, we would use this crude way of communicating with each other. Not many Blades know this code. It must be a senior member.”

“Kolivan?” Keith asked. His voice was rough, and nobody wanted to ask what happened after he cut the comms.

The female Blade hummed, “Possibly.”

“What does it say?” Shiro leaned on the back of the Red Paladin’s chair.

“It’s a distress signal.” Krolia explained. “Whoever is sending it is in trouble.”

Pidge typed away at their screens and the soundwave disappeared and was replaced by the nearby star system, the location of the signal triangulated. “It looks like it’s coming from this sector.”

“Do we know anything about that section of space?” Shiro looked across to the other Lions.

Coran shook his head, “Not without the Castle of Lions’ research library core. We would be flying in blind.”

“We must go!” Krolia demanded.

“I don’t know,” Hunk was hesitant, “That’s a pretty severe detour from well, anywhere.”

“If Kolivan is there, then maybe there will be more Blades. We need all the help we can get.”

* * *

“The signal is coming from this planet.” Pidge swiped across a few screens as the rest looked out to the planet below. “I’m detecting remnants of a civilization but I don’t see any signs of life.”

Romelle blinked as she peered over Allura’s shoulder and asked, “Is that a good sign or a bad sign?”

“In all my space experience, there have never been any good signs.” Hunk joked with a weak smile as they descended into the atmosphere, however that smile waivered the longer that no one laughed before disappearing completely. He cleared his throat and sighed, knowing that Lance would have laughed, before blinking away the tears that popped up as he thought of his best friend. Hunk continued to sniffle until they found a place to land and didn’t leave his lion until the last tear had been wiped away, swearing that he had cried enough today.

That promise lasted until he was out in the sun and saw Keith for the first time in natural lighting since losing Lance. “Oh man, Keith.” The man obviously hadn’t slept well, with deep purple bruises under red-rimmed glassy eyes. Hunk turned and observed the others and saw, while they looked a sight better than Keith, they didn’t look okay by any definition of the word. “Nope. This won’t fly.” The group stared at Hunk questioningly as he shook his head and took a step towards the black paladin, not stopping until they were in reaching distance. “Keith, may I hug you?” Keith, who froze when Hunk started towards him, just stared wide-eyed at him for a while. He swallowed and nodded shakily, freezing again when Hunk swept him up into a rib crushing hug. “It wasn’t your fault, you know.” Keith jerked out of Hunk’s grip and gaped at him.

“W-what?” The yellow paladin sighed.

“Lance’s death wasn’t your fault.” Out of the corner of his eye, Hunk saw Shiro start walking towards the duo but was stopped by Coran, who just shook his head. He turned his focus back to the man before him. “You didn’t force him to stay behind. Ah-ah-ah,” Hunk raised a hand to stall Keith’s protest. “No, Keith. Lance made a choice. A choice between you and him, and he chose to give his life to save yours.” Hunk brought his hands up and placed them on the shorter man’s shoulders. “I know it feels like you could have done something. God knows that’s what I think sometimes too, but Keith?” He waited until Keith’s eyes rose to meet his, the other’s head having turned to look at the ground. “You couldn’t have done anything and it wasn’t your fault.” Hunk punctuated every space between word with a gently shake. “Got it?” He let go of Keith’s shoulders and simply held his hands out, letting the other decide where they went from there. Keith just sobbed and came in for a second hug. “There there, it’ll be okay.”

“GROUP HUG!” Pidge’s shriek caused them to jump apart, but they were soon pushed back together by the sheer force of the groups weight with Krolia off to the side with a small smirk on her face. Tension broken rather spectacularly, the two were both startled into laughing, especially when Keith’s wolf decided he wanted in on the action and teleported right on top of them.

“Now,” Hunk began after disentangling himself from the puppy pile, “I knew Lance the longest, and I have no doubt that he would be yelling at us for moping around when we’re supposed to be doing our saving people thing. So,” He stood up and brushed himself off after offering a hand to both Romelle and Allura. “Let’s go do our jobs as the Defenders of the Universe alright?” He ended that statement with a wink and finger-guns which sent the original group off into a fit of a teary laughter.

“Shiro said the same thing last night,” Keith chuckled as he wiped at his eyes.

“And see, even Hunk agreed with me on the ‘saving people thing.’” Shiro commented as he ruffled the black paladin’s hair when he walked past.

“Yeah.” Keith whispered as he looked up into the sky, smiling slightly. “Yeah, he did.”

* * *

 

The group wandered around following Pidge’s map for about a half a varga before Pidge sighed and poked her screen. “I still can’t tell exactly where the signal originates. I’ll keep trying to triangulate its location. Sorry, guys.”

“It’s not your fault, Number Five.” Coran patted her on the shoulder as they continued spreading out.

“The signs are all around us.” Krolia glanced around at the ruins. “There was a massacre here.”

Allura traced a black mark on a ruined house with a gentle hand and remarked, “Some of this damage looks like it’s from magic.”

Shiro shivered and quickly looked around, trying to find what triggered his senses. “Everyone, stay alert.” A growl from their four-legged companion caused them to tense slightly, but relaxed when that was all he did.

“I don’t like this place.” Hunk peeked around a corner, wishing he was back in Yellow. “I really don’t.”

“Oh, come on Hunk.” Pidge teased. “Where’s your sense of adventure?”

Hunk squinted at her. “You know, the last time someone said something like that to me, we were blasted out into space riding a futuristic cat head soon after?” He rolled his eyes at her razzberry.

Krolia ran a gentle hand across a slice in a wall. “These strike patterns look Marmoran.”

“Keep looking.” Keith watched their surrounding carefully, a hand on the wolf by his side, something just wasn’t right here. “We need to find whatever Blade is broadcasting that signal.” Kosmo’s ears twitched and he started growling at something to his left. “What is it?” Kosmo took off running towards a wall of debris and leapt over the top. “Come on. Sounds like he landed on something living.” They scrambled over fallen rock to find the wolf standing over a masked being. Activating bayards for those that had them, Keith gave Kosmo a scritch behind the ears. “Good job.” He turned and pressed his sword point closer to their captive. “Who are you and who’s broadcasting the signal?”

The being shifted slightly but was disabused by both claw and sword. “Macidus. My name is Macidus. And I set the beacon.”

Krolia stepped up to stare them down with an impressive glare and Keith twitched. “Impossible. You’re no Blade of Marmora.”

Their captive swallows and stammers, “I will explain all if you would put down your weapons.”

Krolia’s glare hardens but turns to her son. “Let’s see what he has to say.”

* * *

 

Macidus brought them down to his lair and set about starting a fire, while his guests looked around with barely held back revulsion. “This place is disgusting.” Romelle grimaced as she gingerly stepped around a molding pile of…  _something._

Their host grunted as they stood up from their crouch, bones creaking as they did. “I have called this place home for the past two deca-phoebs.” They said while staring into the flames.

Letting loose an embarrassed giggle, Romelle backed up. “Oh, well, ‘disgusting’ is Altean for ‘lovely.’ You don’t speak Altean do you?” Macidus turned to look at her for a tick and then went back to watching the flames flicker. She deflated and Hunk patted her on the back consolingly.

Pidge brought up her maps, which gave out a cheery ding a few moments later. “This is where the signal was coming from.” She looked up to the ceiling above. “Somewhere below us.”

“You are clever.” Macidus gingerly sat down on a chest with a sigh of relief. “But I wouldn’t expect less from the Paladins of Voltron.” And then threw another log to the hungry fire.

Shiro stepped up and asked, “You recognized us?”

“Of course, of course. Though, I am surprised to see you. All were certain you perished in your fight with Lotor three deca-pheebs ago.”

“Three… three deca-pheebs?!” Allura cried out, while Romelle covered her mouth and the others made various noises of surprise.

“That’s impossible.” Keith gasped.

“It’s true. Sources said that both Voltron and Lotor disappeared into a big rift in space. Eventually Voltron re-emerged… alone. But then there was an explosion, and after that… nothing. That was three deca-pheebs ago.”

“Whoa.” Hunk murmured softly.

“So as far as everyone else in the universe is concerned, Voltron has been gone for three deca-pheebs?” Shiro noticed Allura trembling and made it to her before her legs gave out, settling her down gently on a clean patch of ground.

Pidge tapped her chin, “That explains the discrepancies in the star charts in our Lions.” She activated her holographic display and began tapping away. “I thought they were off because of out inter-dimensional jumping, which I guess they were, in a way.” She looked up and rapidly blinked, mind going a mile a minute. “Because when you think about it, that must have been the case of the time slippage between our experience and that of the rest of the universe.”

“Wow, so everyone that was helping us thinks we’re dead.” Hunk commented faintly, “That’s nice.” He blindly groped for something to sit on, and sat down, heedless if it was dirty or not.

“Wait.” Pidge swallowed as she thought of something. “I haven’t been able to get ahold of my dad on Earth or Matt and the Rebels.” She looked up at the others. “What’s happened to them in the last three years?” Coran gathered her into a hug, running a soothing hand up and down her back while she trembled.

Allura clenched her jaw and stood up, waving Shiro’s concerned hand away from her. “Well. We may have been gone for three deca-pheebs, but we’re back now.” One by one the others got over their shock and agreed with the Princess. Keith, the only one who hadn’t made any sort of sound since Macidus sprung the devastating news on them, stared at Allura before smirking.

“Yeah, we’re back.”

“And I am so grateful that you are.” Macidus’ voice brought them hurling back into the moment, most having forgotten that he was there among them. “It’s been so long since I’ve had… guests.”

Shiro bowed his head. “Well, thank you for your hospitality, but I am wondering one thing.” He waved his hand at the rubble gathered around them. “What happened here?”

Macidus sighed, “Bloodshed happened here. Death happened here. This is my home planet. But now I am the only one left alive here.”

Krolia perked up and, ignoring their host’s rambles, sauntered over to a curtained wall. She pulled it back and inhaled sharply when the firelight was weakly reflected by the numerous Marmoran Blades sticking out from the rock. She twirled around and pointed her blaster at Macidus, ignoring the children’s gasps. “What are you doing with these?”

Their host disregarded the blaster shoved in their face. “I hang them in honor of their sacrifice. They died trying to protect the universe.”

Krolia’s eye’s narrowed, “How did it happen?”

Macidus turned their eyes back to the fire. “This all started when Voltron disappeared, when… when you disappeared. The Power vacuum that ensued destabilized much of the universe. Galra turned on each other. Warlords and pirates became the rulers of the land.”

“What happened with Haggar, the witch?” Allura cut in.

“No one knows. But her Druids continued her work, carrying out her final orders. They set out to destroy every Blade.”

“After Lotor took the throne, almost every Marmoran agent was exposed.” Pidge spoke softly, almost afraid to disturb the tense atmosphere.

“And that’s when the slaughter began. All Blades were called away from their assignments and sent to this base.” Macidus began and Krolia, who still hadn’t put her gun away, did so. “Kolivan knew they were being hunted and he wanted to make a stand against them. He believed it was their only means of survival.” They sighed. “When they arrived here, my people helped them fortify their base, but the Druids found us sooner than we hoped. They arrived without warning. The Druids encircled the base and besieged it with magic. After a long battle of attrition, the base fell. Casualties on both sides were enormous.

“My people were the first to try to escape. They were slaughtered. I stayed behind with Kolivan. He led those of us that remained to battle the last of the Druids. But for each one we managed to take down… Nearly a hundred Blades would fall. In the final battle, I was buried beneath a collapsed structure. When I regained consciousness, the fight was over and I was the lone survivor. I’ve been sending the signal Kolivan gave me ever since in the hopes of finding any remaining Blades.” The mask couldn’t hide the fact that they were nearly crying.

“There are still a few of us alive.” Keith tried to fill his words with hope, but he didn’t think he did a good enough job.

“Good.”

Krolia looked back to the Wall of Blades and said, “I recognize every one of these Blades. I trained many of them myself.” She walked up and pulled a blade from its resting place “If I had only been here.” She sighed. “Kolivan.” She heard her son walk up behind her.

“Their service will not be forgotten.” They stood in silence for a few moments before the blade in her hand lit up.

“Kolivan? His blade, it’s flickering.” Krolia narrowed her eyes as she brought the knife closer too her face, examining it further.

“Flickering? What does that mean?” Pidge asked, curiosity gleaming in her eyes.

The Galran woman flipped the blade over in her hands. “A Marmoran agent’s life force is connected to their blade. I just saw it glow. He must still be alive.”

Just as hope grew within their hearts, Macidus’ voice killed it  _dead_. “Just barely.” The paladin’s gasped and turned to stare at the apparent enemy in their midst. They stood up, standing loosely and turned to Keith. “Your hand is looking much better.”

“My hand?” Keith haltingly asked as he and Krolia tensed.

“You don’t remember our fight?” The Black Paladin stiffened and inhaled sharply as he remembered the fight years ago in a warship's Quintessence Room between him and a ...

Keith growled as he summoned his sword and pointed it at the Druid. “You’ve been using that signal to draw Blades in!” Macidus laughed menacingly as the other paladin summoned their own weapons.

“Oh, I’ve done more than that, little Paladin. Tell me, halfling, do you want to know what your mate’s last words were before I killed him?”

Keith’s grip on his sword loosened. “What?” He whispered;  _no, no, no, no it couldn’t be…_

“His last words were your name, Paladin. Then the only sounds that camer were only his sweet screams of pain as I burned him alive. It’s is too bad I don’t eat; the smell was delicious.” The last word was hissed out with a sick grin that could be heard from behind the mask. Keith’s eyes widened and then contracted, an animalistic growl escaping from behind newly sharpened fangs. Macidus laughed again, “Kolivan proved to be useful after all, if I got to see  _you_  of all people one last time.”

“You fucking bastard!” He started forward only for the Druid to disappear, leaving behind something that fell to the ground and broke apart. Keith was startled from his angry haze by his mother’s scream of denial and Kosmo teleporting him somewhere.

When they materialized again, Keith didn’t uncurl from his spot on the ground, causing Kosmo to whine and nudge him. “It killed him. It killed him.” Kosmo whined again, not understanding why his packmate wasn’t standing. “That  _fucking bastard_  killed my mate and has my mentor barely alive  _somewhere_  in these ruins.” He took a deep shuddering breath. “Okay, Keith. One thing at a time. Save Kolivan first, revenge later.” He stood up on shaking feet, thanking Kosmo with a neck and ear scritch. He turned his head to examine his new surroundings. “Where are we, anyway?” His though process was interrupted by a flash of pink light and they both ducked behind some rocks to avoid being seen.

Macidus sauntered along the walkway, sword sparking as it was dragged against bedrock before coming to a wooden bridge. Keith dared not breathe from where he was hiding under it as the Druid walked across it, footsteps creaking with each step. He kept his breathing steady as the Druid abruptly came to a stop, head tilted downward so that it seemed that is was staring directly at Keith. They were knocked out of the faux staring contest when a canister started rolling out of nowhere, causing Macidus to fling a bolt of magic at its general direction. Out of the resulting explosion, only a handful of small squeaking things came scurrying out of the cloud of dust, and the Druid relaxed, continuing on its way.

Keith waited until Macidus was out of sight, sighing as he turned around. However, that sigh turned into a scream when he had to dodge the Druid’s sword coming from above. He looked up into its mask as it held up a handful of magic and tossed it down the same time Kosmo teleported Keith out of the line of fire. He ran back towards a hole in the wall but skidded to a stop because Macidus had already teleported there. Keith quickly turned on a dime and screamed again as the Druid decided to teleport right in front of his face. He brought his sword up in a wild movement, slicing through Macidus’ mask, leaving its oh-so-lovely face bare to the world. The asshole grinned at him before teleporting, leaving Keith to whirl around trying to find the fucking thing.

There! Keith focused in on it as the Druid spoke, “There is no escape but death.” And rushed at him, leaving the black paladin to summersault his way out of the path of its sword. Dodging the next two swings, he extended his Marmoran Sword blade to catch the third. Kosmo tried to take a swipe at the Druid, but it escaped with a flash of pink light. Not seeing it anywhere, Keith retreated back the way they came. They ran until they reached a fork in the path, and lo and behold what do they hear but the sound of a Druid appearing. Looking back, Keith decided discretion was the better part of valor and took a chance on the left path, hearing Macidus teleport once again. Navigating the twisting tunnels in the dark was hard enough without the creepy laughter of the Druid following them, and Kosmo teleported them away. Keith hit the ground running but jumped back into Kosmo and disappearing when Macidus teleported above them and tried to ambush them.

The next time they appeared, the two stayed in one spot, glancing this way and that, trying to find the bastard. So far so good, but Keith jumped and spun around when labored breathing reached his ears, finding Kolivan hanging from the ceiling, chained by his limbs. “Kolivan.” He breathed. “I’ll get you out of here.” He started forward but stopped when Macidus teleported in once again, this time standing in front of the injured Blade Agent.

“Our high priestess, Haggar, has forsaken us because of your treachery. But after I kill you and the other Paladins, Haggar will allow me to return!” The Druid giggled maniacally. Keith twitched and curled into Kosmo, who teleported them to the insane Druid, who of course, teleported itself. What ensued was a teleportation battle between pink and blue with neither side giving an inch until the fucking roof fell on them.

Macidus stared at the Paladins pointing weapons at it, “How?” No one answered as the Druid panted. “I’m going to enjoy making Kolivan watch your end.” It then proceeded to take everyone out in less than two minutes. It turned to find Keith standing on shaking legs, using his blade to steady himself. The Druid disappeared in a pink flash and didn’t appear again, but Keith could still hear that insane laughter. Deciding his eyesight was useless, he closed his eyes and focused on his other senses. Still blindly focusing, he drew his blade above his head and threw it with all his might, praying that it would hit. Hearing that squelching noise seriously brought a tear of joy to his eye. Keith opened his eyes in time to see Macidus burst into a thousand tiny itty-bitty little pieces and his knife drop to the ground.

“Goodbye, Lance. I love you.” He breathed out as the others started getting up from where the Druid threw them. He checked to make sure they were okay before beginning to take Kolivan down from his no doubt painful position.

-

“Well,” Pidge glanced down at Kolivan’s readings to double check what she was about to say was accurate. “He’s in pretty bad shape, but it looks like he’s going to be okay.”

“I,” The Blade’s Leader struggled to speak, and Keith offered some water which was gratefully accepted. “I’m sorry my code lured you here.”

“There was nothing you could do.” Keith soothed, but blinked when he remembered, “The coordinates I gave you, the Altean colony, were you able to find it?”

“Hmm. I sent a team. There was nothing there. Just an empty facility. They were all gone.” Kolivan’s choppy sentences did nothing to soften the tense air the group found themselves in and Keith sighed, wishing for some good news for once.

Krolia looked over at the covered Wall of Blades, “Judging from the Blades that Macidus collected, he may have delivered a critical blow to the Marmora.” Kolivan’s eyes widened, before a rough chuckle escaped torn and frayed lips.

“Not such a critical blow as you may have feared, Krolia. Check behind the curtain again.” The female Galran, tilted her head and went to do as she was asked. When she lifted the curtain again, she froze in shock. “B-but how?” She stammered. Curious as to what got his usually stoic mother all aflutter, Keith peeked his head in and blinked.

“Most of the blades are gone.” He turned back to the gaunt man, “Why are most of the blades gone?”

Kolivan’s chuckle grew in strength, “Macidus would often tell me what he would say to you all if you were ever caught in his trap. One of his favorites was the illusion on the wall to make it seem that he had killed more people than he actually had.” He coughed and Keith rushed back to his side to help him sink down into the pillows. “I had forgotten that you would have little to know knowledge of what is going on in the universe at this point. I am guessing that all you know is what the Druid told you.” Keith nodded. “Never fear, the universe isn’t on the brink of collapse.” Hunk breathed a sigh of relief as Kolivan drunk some more water. “The Galra Empire is unfortunately a more stable than you left it with the rise of a new Emperor, Sendak-”

Pidge groaned, “That guy is like a cockroach. Just when we think we got rid of him, he shows up again!”

“A cockroach?” Kolivan tilted his head to the side.

“A Terran insect that is notoriously difficult to kill, being able to survive being beheaded and nuclear explosions to name a few scenarios.” Shiro added in his two cents.

“An apt description then.” Kolivan muttered under his breath and shook his head, turning to look at Hunk. “Speaking of unkillable beings. Yellow Paladin,” Hunk jolted into awareness by being talked to. “If you could please hand me that bag by your foot.”

“Uh, sure. Here you go.”

“My thanks.” He spent a few minutes clearly looking for something before he found it. “Keith, come here and hold out your hand.”

“Yessir.” Kolivan dropped an item into his palm that Keith thought he would never see again.

“How?” He curled his fingers around his father’s high school ring that he gave Lance for their 6-month anniversary. “This should have been destroyed, or at least floating around some wreckage.” He raised his eyes to look at Kolivan, not daring to hope.

The Blade Leader's lips tilted up into a rare smile. “Sendak is not the only one who can survive just about anything, young one.”


	2. Chapter 2 - Leave Out All the Rest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _During the Previous Chapter: Lance sacrifices himself to buy his Space Family time to escape a Galra Battlecruiser, which explodes, leaving Voltron in a state of shock. Later, they find a signal used by senior members of the Blades of Marmora broadcasting from a nearby planet. When they go and investigate, they find Macidus, a native, who tells them they have been missing for three years, the Blades are gone, and the Galra Empire is in Shambles. Then, it is revealed that Macidus is actually a stranded Druid, using the signal to lure Blade Members to their deaths. Keith manages to kill the Druid, and finds Kolivan alive but not particularly well. After making sure he won't die any time soon, he tells them all hope is not lost! The Blade isn't as gone as they feared, Sendak is emperor, and Lance actually still lives._  
>   
>  During this Chapter: We have what happened on Lance's side of the door.  
> 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First, if you already haven't, go back and reread the first chapter, because I added a few things.  
> Second, chapter title is _Leave Out All the Rest_ by Linkin Park.  
> Third, enjoy.  
> Warnings for this chapter: Child Death and Electrocution.  
> \-----  
> Shout out and thanks to my discord people, again, you know who you are.  
> And while I _think_ my Irish and Spanish are correct (mix of my own knowledge and Google Translate), if they aren't send me a comment and I'll have it fixed.  
>  **EDITTED 6/9/2019. One of these days, I swear I will release a chapter that I will be happy enough with, that I won't come back and edit it the next day. _*Sighs*_ One of These Days...**

Lance watched with a sad smile as Keith (hopefully) ran towards the general direction of the hanger, reached up to touch the ring at his neck, and turned back to the Druid who was looking at him with its head canted to the side.

“You are a strange being, Red Paladin.” It took a step forward and Lance brought his sword up to guard. “You think that you are the least valuable player in this Game of War. That you do not see your own  _worth_  is interesting, that you sacrifice yourself for  _nothing_  even more so.” The Druid crept closer, Lance backing up until he hit the wall behind him. It stopped just out of reach and stared at the startled human. “Tell me Paladin, how long do you think you were in that rift for?”

“What?” Lance blinked at the non-sequitur. “What does that have to do with anything?” He spluttered. The Druid said nothing, just continued to stare at him. “I – I don’t know a couple of hours, maybe a day?” Lance jerked back when the thing in front of him made a hacking cough-like noise and he realized that the Druid was laughing.

“Oh, my dear Paladin, it wasn’t just a few varga that you fought in that rift.” It shook its head and the human could tell it was smirking behind its mask. “No, you fought for a single varga, then were  _spit_   _out_  three deca-pheebs later. And let me tell you,” The Druid ignored Lance’s frantic shaking head and mumbled denials. “When everyone realized that Voltron had gone  _missing_ , and were most likely  _dead_ , the chaos that blossomed was  _glorious_. Your Coalition was destroyed and all those planets that you saved,” The Druid paused, taking the chance to lean into the shaking human’s space. “Have started  _cursing._   _Your. Name_.”

“No. No no no. It’s not possible.” It straightened up and Lance could feel its smug attitude as it watched his breakdown. “It can’t be. No. You’re lying. You have to be.”

The Druid cocked its head, “Why tell a lie, when the truth is so much more painful to hear?” The human could only believe its steady words and those had shattered Lance’s carefully structured wall of denial.

“Oh my god.” A faint memory from years ago arose in his mind, clearing away the panicked fog. He had run to Abuelita with tears in his eyes, telling her about the mean American kids that made fun of his thick Irish accent on the playground. She had taken his face in her hands and said in her creaky smoker’s voice, ‘ _A mal tiempo, buena cara.’ (In bad weather, a good face._ ) And sent him off to his mama for some chocolate. Lance took a deep breath and let it out slowly, looking up at the thing before him. “Even if that’s true,” His voice shook, but it grew stronger with every word. “Voltron will rise against all that stands in the way of freedom and strike down those who dare oppress it.”

 The Druid continued to stare at the human. For all intents and purposes, he should be a blubbering wreck on the floor, instead he stands tall in the face of adversity. “You truly are a strange being, Lance McClain.”

“And  _you_  should keep out of my head, cúl tóna (dickhead).” Lance brought up his bayard from where it had fallen slack, sweeping it up into an arc. The Druid dodged, which was what he was aiming for, a little breathing room to change his bayard to its blaster form. He sprayed a line of bolts to keep that space between them while he figured out how to defeat a seemingly immortal Druid. He pulled up short as it vanished in a flash of pink light. “What-?”

“I think my mistress would like to meet you face to face, young one.” A whisper in his ear made him screech as he whirled around, bayard changing as he did. The Druid danced away from his blade and out of swinging distance.

“Yeah, no thanks. I’ll take a raincheck.”  _Daideo (Grandad) always says: ‘Is fearr rith maith ná drochsheasamh.’ (A good run is better than a bad stand.)_  He thinks to himself as he checks out his options regarding cover.  _A box made of questionable material and two hallways. Hmm, I’m feeling a bit left today._  Returning his focus back to his opponent, Lance steeled his nerves and grinned widely, causing the Druid to freeze in confusion. He jumped over the box and kicked it into the Druid’s chest. “ _¡Vete pa la puñeta hijo de puta! (Go to hell you son of a bitch!)”_  And hightailed it out through the left hallway.

He mentally went over the ship’s map, having noticed a running theme with these ships’ layouts. _Now if I remember correctly, the Balmera crystal should be… Aha!_  He skidded to a stop in front of a  _very_  important looking doorway. He slammed his sword into the crack and, wiggling it side to side, slowly forced the door open enough to slip through. Once inside, he was greeted with the sight of gently pulsing purple; he took a minute to catch his breath and think of a plan.

“It seems that the mouse has trapped itself in its haste to escape from the cat.” Lance flipped into a handspring, faintly thinking that he was glad for the mixed gymnastics and yoga classes that his sister was too shy to go to alone.  _Not the time, focus._ He straightened up, bayard already glowing and glared at the laughing son of a bitch over his scope. The sight of it brought to mind the bare bones of a plan and he began praying.

_Hail Mary,_

_Full of Grace,_

_“¡Para de hacer eso comemierda! (Stop doing that, asshole!)”_  The Cuban hissed as it continued to giggle. _“Que cabrón eres. (You are such a bastard.)”_  The Druid’s giggles petered off and the two stared each other down.

_El Seńor es contigo. (The Lord is with thee.)_

_Bendita tú eres entre todas las mujeres, (Blessed art thou among women,)_

_Y bendito es el fruto de tu vientre, Jesús. (And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus)_

 “As nice as this staring contest is, I truly think that my lady Haggar needs to meet you, so please excuse me for cutting it short.” The Druid appeared behind Lance and wrapped its hands around him, twisting and binding his hands at the wrist.

_A Naomh Mhuire, a mhathair Dé, (Holy Mary, Mother of God)_

_Puigh orainn na peacaigh anois, (Pray for us sinners now,)_

_Agus ar uair ár mbáis._   _(and at the hour of our death.)_

“Yeah, no.” Lance summoned his dropped bayard and pointed it at the Druid, activating his weapon in the same moment that the bastard started teleporting.  _“Gabh transna ort fhéin, aiteann. (go fuck yourself sideways, cunt.)”_  He smirked, not even caring when the last thing that he registered was the smell of burning flesh. He breathed in and -

_Amen._

Everything went dark.

 

When Lance woke up, he opened his eyes slowly and raised his head before pure pain started running rampant over his body. The last time he felt this level of pain was when he pushed Allura out of the way of that electrical discharge from the Omega Shield. Apparently, who ever had him was serious in their attempt to cause him pain. _Wonder who I pissed off lately…_ A growled command in a language he didn’t understand had the electricity stopping, or at least the voltage decreased enough that he could no longer feel it and Lance blinked his eyes clear of the dark spots that came with squeezing your eyes too tightly. Looking around, he found himself laying on a metal slab of some kind, chained by his wrists and ankles and shifted slightly, taking care to test his bonds for any weakness. He swept his gaze across the room he found himself in, eyeing the door and any vents for any potential escape routes. Then he turned his focus to the people in the room with him.

He swore a blue streak that would make an experienced sailor blush and skimmed past two Galra soldiers to land on a certain hooded figure. “Great, just the person I  _didn’t_  want to see.” He grumbled under his breath before he plastered the biggest grin he could manage on his face. “Haggar, lovely to see you. I don’t know where your son or the other paladins are, sor-” His apology was interrupted as his voice raised in pitch to another shriek of pain when electricity started coursing through his veins again, this time lasting a fair bit longer. Lance tried to calm his twitching limbs as Haggar took her hand off a console that he had just now noticed.  _I think I may need to work on my situational awareness a little bit, good lord._

The head Druid slowly made her way closer to the table and started speaking in the same language as the Galra soldier and Lance shook his head. “I see your lips moving and hear words coming out of your mouth, but I have no clue what the hell you’re saying.” Haggar frowned and reached over, placing her hands on either side of his temple. Lance stared to thrash around his bonds, “Get your creepy old hand offa me, lady! Bad touch, bad touch!”

He felt something poke at his mental barriers and he hastily tried to reinforce them, but his efforts proved useless as Haggar tore through them like cobwebs. Lance started screaming again when the druid refused to be gentle as she rifled through his memories. She was obviously searching for something, but he was at least able to block out his more recent memories, like Lotor’s location, because Haggar having a spaceship that can travel through dimensions seemed like a bad idea to him.

Finally, the witch found what she was looking for, which wasn’t what he thought it would be, and pulled back, leaving Lance’s mental shields in tatters. “Can you understand me now, Paladin of Voltron?” She rasped in accented English. Apparently, he took too long to answer, because Lance found himself being electrocuted again.

“Yes!” He screamed and gasped for breath when the pain stopped.

“Good.” He didn’t like the look on what could be seen of her face. “My sources have said that Voltron and Lotor vanished into a rift of some sort yesterday, with Voltron appearing 5 dobash later only to disappear in an explosion directly after. Then you arrived in a flash not unlike one of my Druid teleporting. I find that interesting, but a mother’s needs outweigh a scientist’s wants.  Now, tell me where my son is.”

 _That Druid must have been lying._  His eyes widened at a stray though about the pink light.  _Or it wasn’t lying and I jumped back in time again during the explosion… Either way, I fucking_ refuse _to let Haggar get her hands on that ship._

“No.” Lance stuck out his tongue, nearly biting it off when Haggar sighed and turned on the electricity again. She held it for 10 seconds, turning it off and asked the same question. “Find him yourself, you bitch.” This time, the wattage was turned up and stayed on until he shrieked, “Okay! Okay, I’ll tell you!” He panted harshly, trying to catch his breath and glared when Haggar reached for the button tauntingly. “First you find the second star on the right and then go straight on till morning. There you’ll fin-” The Witch snarled, turned the dials all the way up and slammed her fist down, unleashing lethal amounts of lightning into his body. “Y-your Lost Boy.” He finished and laughed breathlessly.

“I have little use for your nonsense.” Haggar turned to the Galra in the room and touches their temples, gifting them the knowledge of English. “Make him talk but leave him somewhat useful. I have some experiments that would be perfect for such a subject.” She swept from the room, leaving Lance to swallow harshly as the soldiers advanced.

_I don’t think the Druid was lying._

It took the soldiers seven days of Lance’s backtalk and him calling them increasingly terrible nicknames, before they realized that, while they could do whatever they wanted to the paladin, he wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of him breaking. Whipping, cutting, punching, drowning, even burning. Nothing would make the human talk. Then, one of them had the bright idea that if torturing  _him_  would yield no results, then why don’t they bring in  _someone else_  instead.

Lance, now hanging from the ceiling by his wrists, took one look into the teary eyes of a scruffy Olkari child being threatened with a bloody knife and started to cry himself.  _Lo siento, lo siento, por favor, lo siento todos, pero tengo que. (I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please, I’m sorry everyone, but I have to.)_  “I don’t know!” The blade stopped just above their head and the Galra, this one’s nickname of the day being Owl for way her neck seemed to turn at least 100 degrees when she turned to glare at him at his most annoying, holding it turned to the human.

“What did you say?” She growled and the child burst into tears. The other guard, Barnacle for his crusty attitude, holding them shook the small body and hissed something in a language Lance still didn’t understand. The child hiccupped but quieted down.

“I said I don’t know.” Owl started lowering the knife again, clearly not believing him. “Stop! I really don’t know! We followed him into the rift and left him there!” The two guards looked at each other and Owl walked past the table that Lance was once bound to, now with every instrument of torture that Lance had been put under and gave the knife to her fellow guard. She walked to the door, stopping only to lean and whisper into Barnacle’s ear and left, closing the door with a deafening clang.

“Please. Please, let the kid go.” Lance pleaded, “I told you what you wanted, so please. Please let them go.” Barnacle dragged the child closer and forced them to look at the strung-up human. Lance, knowing what the Galra was about to do, started struggling against the heavy-duty chains that bound him. “No, no nono, don’t you dare!” Barnacle murmured something to his captive and looked up to Lance with a wicked smile on his face, lifting the knife to the child’s neck. “Please-!” The paladin flinched back as bright yellow blood splashed across his face like war paint and he watched in horrified heartbreak as life faded from young eyes. He’s seen dead children in this war, has cried over finding tiny bodies on bloody battlefields, but he’s never had one killed in right front of his eyes before.

A harsh sound dragged Lance’s hazy stare from the yellow splattered corpse on the floor to the laughing soldier in front of him. “It’s a shame. The poor child could have lived,” _¡Hijo de puta (Son of a bitch)!_ The paladin glared and grit his teeth. “If only you told the truth.”

It was at those words that Lance finally snapped. All that grief and raging anger woke something deep in within himself and he reached up to coil the chains around his wrists for more leverage, pulled up and swung forward. It was unfortunate that his prison guards didn’t have the foresight to chain his legs down, because he folded his legs around Barnacle’s meaty neck and  _squeezed_ , bringing the choking captive Galra closer.

“It’s a  _shame_ indeed _,_ ” Lance hissed.“You really shouldn’t have done that _._ ” He shifted his left leg up higher than the other, stretching the neck as high as it could go, and jerked his other knee sharply to the left. Apparently, it did work like in the movies and he was rewarded with the satisfying sound of snapping bone. Lance unwrapped his legs, letting Barnacle’s body drop to the bloody ground next to the Olkari. He looked down and watched with sickly glee as the Galra’s eyes filled with panic as he realized he couldn’t talk, move or breath before dimming into a well-deserved slow and painful death. He spat bloody saliva at the corpse. “Hope you enjoy hell, child-killer.”

“Well now, this is interesting.” Lance’s eyes snapped up and he snarled at Haggar as she stepped through the door, Owl peering out from behind her as the guard closed it. “I did not realize that you humans could snap another’s neck like that. Our Champion certainly could not.” The witch stepped around the blood pool and tilted the paladin’s head back, staring into his eyes. Haggar’s own eyes narrowed after a few minutes and she barked orders at the remaining guard, sweeping past and out through the door without another word in English.

The next day Lance lifted his head, mindful of his new injures (Owl taking offense of her partner’s death), to stare at Haggar’s return with three new guards and another Druid backing her. “It seems your former black paladin is not the only hybrid on Voltron’s crew.”

“What?” It took a minute for that sentence to make sense to his foggy mind. Then it sank in. “ _WHAT?!_ ”

“Indeed.” The witch motioned for the guards to cut him down and place him back on the table. “Your blood has many stories to tell, young paladin.”

“Nope.” Lance shook his head, squirming at the way he was being manhandled into the prone position. “Don’t believe you.”

“It matters not if you believe me, paladin.” She said as she came up to stand by his head, the second Druid shadowing her. “It only matters that I have another Galran-Altean hybrid to… examine.”

“But- But I’m not…” The not-so-human paladin stuttered, trailing off in the face of the two Druids staring down at him with ill intent. “I’m more human than either of those things, though.” He continued faintly as the other Druid raised its hands to hover over Lance’s legs and belly.

“Thankfully,” Haggar started as she also raised her hands, only she placed them over his torso and head instead. “I have ways of changing that. The process is fairly painful, unfortunately. Generally, the subjects came out with their mental faculties disturbed, but there still have been some full successes.” The hovering hands started to glow. “I am certain you will be one of them.” The glow spread and Lance began to scream, mind going blank.

His mind drifted through fog for a time, before words broke through. “Hmm. This is a truly unforeseen side-effect.” The gruff words floated through Lance’s mind, not fully registering as he coasted the waves of semi-consciousness. “However, the procedure seems to have worked.”  _That_  brought him back to coherency.

“What  _did-_?!” His squeaky voice cracked on the last word. He stopped, stunned. His  _squeaky_   _voice_  cracked. His  _squeaky voice cracked_  like it hasn’t done since he was  _eleven_. He swallowed and tried again, “What, did you do to me?”

“It appears your body decided to help with the pain, taking excess magic and reverting to a form better suited to your mind from breaking.” Haggar paused and smiled sharply down at the now young boy, “You also show signs of having accessed some sort of genetic memory, little one.”

“Wha-?” Lance froze as he realized something. The witch’s smiled widened “I can understand you. I understood the other guy earlier. What were they speaking and why can I understand you?!” He began to freak out.  _¡Ay Dios, por favor no mas (Oh God, please no more)!_

“My Druid spoke Galran, we are currently conversing in Altean, and I must say my child, purple truly suits you.” Haggar held up a mirror and Lance caught a glimpse of purple on a childish face and white streaked hair before his mind decided it couldn’t take any more surprises and he fainted.

When Lance woke up, probably hours later, he was alone in a very different cell and wearing the purple prison jumpsuit instead of the armor undersuit. His hand shot up and grasped at a ring that for some reason, was still around his neck and not in someone’s pocket. Thanking a higher power that at least one piece of his mate was with him, he twitched as he remembered what happened before he passed out. He sucked in a shaky breath and traced a trembling finger along his now pointy ear. _It happened. It actually happened._ They weren’t as pointy as a true Altean’s, more like Tolkien’s elves. _Or_ , _Vulcans from Star Trek, to keep with the alien theme._ He thought to himself as his hand dropped and his breathing picked up.  _Because apparently, I’m not human._

Trying to break out of his barely begun panic attack; he bit his lip, flinching when his canine sliced through flesh easier than it normally did.  _Nononononono._  He brought a finger to his mouth and cursed when a nail cut into his gums.  _Ná bí ag breathnú síos, ná bí ag breathnú síos (Don’t look down, don’t look down.) It was just my imagination; I don’t have claws_. He looked down and he did indeed have sharp pointy nails now.

“Are you alright?” A raspy voice broke him out o his spiraling thoughts and he peered into the cell to the left of him. An adult female Olkari waved at him, and he shyly waved back, wondering if she had any relation to the child he had gotten killed. He finally realized he wasn't in any pain, ignoring the memories of puddles of yellow that the woman had triggered, and he though, _Someone either healed me or I'm on really the good pain stuff._

“I’m fine, how about you?” He cringed at his squeaky voice, having forgotten about his aging problem, what with everything else popping up. The woman gasped, hands at her mouth.

“Oh my, a child! I didn’t realize you were that young in the dark.”  Where are your parents, young one?” Lance flinched again, looking around the well-lit room that was apparently wasn’t.  _Night vision, too?_

“I’m not really a child, thank you for your concern, though.” He sighed and hurriedly waved his hands when he saw the woman open her mouth. “Haggar messed with my body, trying to bring forwards some recessive genes. My body couldn’t handle the pain, so it regressed to keep me safe.” He paused before muttering under his breath. “Probably my human and Altean blood, now that I think about it…”

“Human and Altean?” The Olkari inhaled sharply. “As in the Human Voltron Paladins and the Alteans Princess Allura and Steward Coran?”

“Yep!” Lance chirped with a smile. “Lance McClain, Red Paladin Extraordinaire at your service!”

“The Galrau say that you disappeared fighting Lotor!” She reached a hand through the bars, groping blindly until he placed his hand in hers. She grasped it tightly, “Was that a lie? Is Voltron coming for you? For us?”

“No. Voltron isn’t coming back for another three deca-pheebs.” Lance saw the Olkari’s eyes widened, and he shrugged, knowing that she could feel it through their joined hands.

“What do you mean.”

“The explosion Voltron was caught in before it disappeared was the quintessence of the Castle of Lions compacting and I think, when that mixed with the residual energy from the rift, it combined to make a temporal wormhole.” The woman,  _I really need to get her name_ , nodded and Lance continued. “When we escaped, we were caught by a Galra ship. The others ran, but I stayed behind to distract a druid, who said that we had been gone for 3 deca-pheebs and then the ship blew up with me in it.” His eyes started stinging, and he began to cry. “They think I’m dead, my mate thinks I’m dead.”

The Olkari let go of his hand and wrapped her arms around him, bringing him closer to the bars and carded her fingers through his hair. “Oh, my child. Hush, let it all out.” They sat there for a few minutes before Lance could pull himself together. She let him go and ran her hands down his face, drying his wet cheeks with her thumbs. “Feeling better?”

“A little.” He smiled wetly and sniffed. “Now that I’ve cried all over you, may I have you name? And do you know where we are?”

“Oh, where are my manners? I am Akita and we are in the Gladiatorial Arena Cellblock D.”

_What._


End file.
